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I never pass up a chance to browse through antique stores and flea markets, and that is where I found all of these bullet molds. You never know where treasures will show up. All of these were made in the 1850’s. The one in the middle was made by the Manhattan Gun Co. I found it in Franklin Ky. The smaller one on the right I picked up in Lexington VA, and the one on the left I found in Franklin Tenn.

I found this bullet mold at a gun show in Louisville Ky. It is made of brass and cast an unusual bullet. After doing some research, I found out that this type of bullet was used a lot in the 1800’s for small game. A nice little mold.

This display of bullet molds are mostly pre Civil War, 1840’s-1850’s. Most are very crudely made out of iron, but a few are brass, which was easier to work with. Since a lot of guns were hand made before the war, the gunsmith made a bullet mold to fit the gun he just made. Most of these are just round ball molds. There are a few conical bullet molds, but they are mostly for rifles. I will be posting a few of these hand made molds to show the different types of bullets they molded back then. Lead had to be melted, then very carefully poured into the hole in the top of the mold. After it cooled for a minute, you opened the mold and the bullet fell out. Very slow and hot process. But that is all they had back then.

This mold is unique, because instead of the bullets being molded side by side, they are on top of each other, as you can tell when the mold is opened up. It can mold a round and a conical bullet. This is a war period mold made of brass.

Here is a display of Colt manufactured bullet molds. Some are for the 1853 Navy 36 caliber, and some are for the 1860 Army 44 caliber. Molds like these were carried by soldiers to make bullets in camp for their Colt or other maker made pistols that were of that caliber. A lot of these molds came in a Colt display box when someone bought a new Colt pistol. There were a lot of manufactures of pistol molds, but the Colt mold is one of the most sought after. I found all of these at Civil War and gun shows.

I picked up this Colt marked bullet mold at a Civil War show in Louisville Ky. This type of bullet mold was carried and used by Northern and Southern soldiers, to cast bullets in their camps, when they ran out of ammunition. The two bullets beside the mold, are the type that are cast from this mold. A round and a conical bullet. Both types were fired out of the the Colt Army 44 cal pistol.